| | | | |  | | By Matt Friedman | Good Wednesday morning! U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell was readmitted to the hospital last week, and other than a statement from his office that his condition was “stable” issued shortly after his check in, we don’t have any updates on his condition. Democrats are closing in fast on the deadline. If Pascrell plans to end his 28-year career in Congress, in order to take his name off the ballot he has to inform the secretary of state by Aug. 27. Just two days after that, Democrats would be required to choose the replacement nominee. I’m not in Chicago with the Democratic delegation this week, but Pascrell’s health is a topic of conversation there. And it seems few if any people know much about his health. In the absence of news from the congressmember, the general assumption seems to be he plans to stay on the ballot. And while that could change, time is running out to get the process moving. “I’m assuming if it were going to be him pulling out, we’d know by now,” said Assemblymember Benjie Wimberland, who represents Pascrell’s hometown of Paterson. “I’m just praying for his health and that he’s able to serve.” Passaic County Democratic Chair John Currie said Pascrell is a ‘reasonable man” and if he’s not able to run, he will say so. “But I am 100 percent supportive of him and looking forward to him being reelected,” Currie said. TIPS? FEEDBACK? Email me at mfriedman@politico.com. QUOTE OF THE DAY: “I understand they did confirm there is no ordinance regarding roosters, so they went ahead a brought over their rooster. I understand there have been some complaints. ... But at the end of the day, there is no rule saying they can’t have a rooster, so it was upsetting to hear they received a letter from the township.” —Shamong resident Patty Niculescu during a public meeting last week, after Shamong Township Administrator Susan Onorato sent a “courtesy’ letter to a couple asking them to relocate their rooster to a different part of their property. “It never said to remove it!” — Oronato’s response to the cocktroversy HAPPY BIRTHDAY — Joan Voss, Barbara Plumeri WHERE’S MURPHY? Out-of-state. Acting Gov. Way has no public schedule
| | | | Did you miss it? This month, POLITICO and AARP NY convened New York lawmakers Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-NY), Rep. Pat Ryan (D-NY), and industry experts to discuss the impacts of changing social security measures on New Yorkers. The conversations focused on the the future of Social Security, how the the 2024 elections could change the options and how Social Security impacts the housing crisis facing aging New Yorkers. Watch the highlights here. | | | | | |  | WHAT TRENTON MADE | |
NJ MOTTO: IF IT’S BROKE, DON’T FIX IT — Officials still don’t know what broke America’s busiest rail corridor, by POLITICO’s Ry Rivard: Commuters into New York City got pummeled by train delays and cancellations this summer, and nobody knows how to stop it from happening again. Even if they did, resuscitating the vital rail arterial into Manhattan could take years and untold amounts of money. Regulators and elected officials — spurred on by furious constituents — are ramping up pressure on Amtrak and New Jersey Transit, which operate the trains, to figure out what ails the busiest stretch of passenger railway in the country. But officials at the agencies say even if they could pinpoint a precise cause — the answer is lurking in some mishmash of century-old tracks, aging trains, extreme heat and high demand — fixing it will be an incredibly complex puzzle with no easy solutions and enormous price tags. That’s the bottom line of a new report from Amtrak and New Jersey Transit scrutinizing what waylaid commuters earlier this summer, when riders faced dizzying delays on the route carrying tens of thousands of daily passengers in and out of America’s economic powerhouse. At the time, officials blamed problems on high temperatures. Now, even the head of Amtrak says that’s not the whole picture. “It can’t be only the heat,” Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner said in an interview. What exactly it is continues to elude them, Gardner acknowledged.
OUT OF THEIR DEBTS — Murphy announces $100 million in medical debt forgiveness, by POLITICO’s Daniel Han: The Murphy administration announced on Tuesday the elimination of approximately $100 million worth of medical debt that will impact around 50,000 New Jersey residents … The governor’s office claimed that the roughly $100 million was eliminated by using around $550,000 in pandemic relief funds. Putting public funds toward medical debt forgiveness has become popular in recent years, with New York City, the state of Arizona and Cook County, Illinois, among the governments that have provided millions to Undue Medical Debt to fund debt forgiveness programs. The nonprofit purchases unpaid medical debt at steep discounts — usually pennies on the dollar — and then is able to eliminate it for patients. Vice President Kamala Harris has also supported medical debt forgiveness as part of her 2024 presidential policy platform. IN THE YEAR 2025 — More 2025 gubernatorial super PACs emerge, by POLITICO’s Matt Friedman: NJEA President Sean Spiller, who stands to benefit from an estimated $35 million in spending from a super PAC with ties to his union, is not alone among 2025 Democratic gubernatorial candidates with independent expenditure groups behind them. Recent filings with the Election Law Enforcement Commission show two other super PACs recently formed that are poised to spend money on the 2025 Democratic primary. One plans to back Newark Mayor Ras Baraka’s bid for governor, while another is funded by donors with ties to former Senate President and 2025 gubernatorial candidate Steve Sweeney. Still, the groups’ spending will likely be dwarfed by the Spiller-backed Working for New Jersey. The Baraka independent expenditure group, One United New Jersey, estimates it will spend $600,000 to promote his 2025 gubernatorial candidacy. The group that appears poised to back Sweeney, Building Bridges Voter Project, estimates it will spend $1 million. THE HEROIN WE NEED — “NJ expands harm reduction efforts by distributing clean needles, drug test kits,” by The Paterson Press’ Joe Malinconico: “One by one, the unhoused drug users living in an encampment along freight railroad tracks in the [Paterson’s] 4th Ward trudged through a hole in the fence when they saw the harm reduction workers in a nearby parking lot … That scene on a recent Monday morning in Paterson reflected the dramatic changes in the harm reduction movement sweeping through New Jersey. State government this year boosted its annual funding for such programs from $4.5 million to $16.5 million, and also gave approvals increasing the number of harm reduction centers allowed to operate in New Jersey from seven to 45. The changes extend far beyond amounts of money and numbers of programs. For example, some of the items that the Tier1Recovery workers were distributing — such as glass stems for smoking crack and hammer pipes for heroin — were considered by police as illegal drug paraphernalia until Gov. Phil Murphy signed harm reduction supplies legislation last January.” —“AG mandates all rape kits submitted to law enforcement to be tested following KIYC investigation” —“‘Exorbitant’ fees on calls, emails cost inmates and their families $15M annually, report says” —“N.J. drivers will be able to write off their E-ZPass tolls if proposed legislation is passed”
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GOOD LUCK WITH THAT — Menendez asks judge to throw out guilty verdicts, by POLITICO’s Ry Rivard: Sen. Bob Menendez and the two New Jersey businesspeople found guilty last month of bribing him asked a judge on Monday to throw out the verdicts against them. The legal maneuver is unlikely to succeed since it asks U.S. District Court Judge Sidney Stein to reverse a two-month corruption trial over which he presided. … The senator’s motion, which acknowledges that it’s “no simple task” to vacate a jury verdict, previews a series of novel legal issues that could eventually send the case to the Supreme Court. His co-defendants filed separate motions. The senator focuses on the constitution’s “speech or debate” clause, which grants lawmakers a form of immunity. His legal team argues prosecutors disregarded the privilege and swaths of evidence from the case should not have been shown to jurors.
THE SENATOR SO VICE THEY INDICTED HIM TWICE — “New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez resigns from Senate after bribery convictions,” by The AP: “- New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez's Senate career came to a close Tuesday, capping roughly five decades in Democratic politics that took him from the local school board to chair of the influential Senate Foreign Relations Committee, just over a month after a jury convicted him on federal bribery charges. Menendez signaled his resignation would take effect at the end of the day Tuesday in a letter last month to Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, who said Friday he's tapping a former top aide to succeed the three-term incumbent. … The resignation appears to mark the end of a nearly lifelong political career for Menendez, who was first elected to his local board of education just a couple of years after his high school graduation. … Menendez is the only U.S. senator indicted twice.” —“And now, the end is here for convicted Menendez’s U.S. Senate career” BUSTING A CAP — “Schumer pledges to end cap on SALT deductions after 2025,” by The Hill’s Alexander Bolton: “Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told reporters at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago Tuesday that he will not allow the Trump-era cap on state and local tax deductions to continue after its scheduled expiration at the end of next year. … The issue of capping these so-called SALT deductions is especially potent on Long Island, a key swing area in New York that could help Democrats take back control of the U.S. House of Representatives in November. ‘One of the issues that people care about on Long Island is state and local deductibility,’ Schumer remarked when asked on Tuesday about Democrats’ chances of winning races on Long Island. ‘We Democrats, as long as I’m leader, when state and local deductibility expires, it will be gone,’ he declared. The Trump-era cap on state and local tax deductions is due to expire after Dec. 31, 2025.” —“Paterson Democrats fill County Committee slots amid Bill Pascrell illness concerns” — "Jones Leads NJ Delegation in Casting Votes for Kamala Harris" — “Harris nomination a huge moment for [Watson Coleman]. ‘I am grateful to God I get to see this’” —“Despite oil boom and climate warnings, Republicans push fossil fuels” | | LOCAL | | HOME RULE — “More NJ school districts think hard about consolidating,” by NJ Spotlight News’ Hannah Gross: “After years with little movement, school district consolidation efforts are gaining momentum to help districts operate more efficiently as budgets tighten and enrollment fluctuates. This summer Henry Hudson Regional School District became the first to officially regionalize under a 2022 law and five school districts received state funding for regionalization feasibility studies. Many of the districts considering regionalization or increasing shared services are small districts that have seen declining enrollment or reductions in state funding since 2018. Almost all the current studies are examining K-12 regionalization of several elementary or middle school districts that send students to the same high school district.” PLEASE EXCUSE MY DEAR AUNT TASSY — “Fired Neptune official sues, says mayor targeted him after he didn't give her nephew a job,” by The Asbury Park Press’ Charles Daye: “The fired director of the township Department of Public Works has filed a lawsuit against the township and Mayor Tassie York, claiming the mayor targeted him ever since he refused to hire her nephew in 2023. The Township Committee last week fired David Milmoe as DPW director and assistant deputy coordinator of the Office of Emergency Management, following a suspension the previous month after his social media comments on gay people were brought to the attention of township officials. But the lawsuit alleges that the problems started much earlier than that. In the suit, Milmoe says in March 2023 the township was interviewing people for a driver position in his department and that one candidate told him during a job interview that York, then the deputy mayor, was his aunt. … The lawsuit alleges the nephew stated he could speak with his aunt to receive a higher starting salary and expedite the hiring process.” INSANE CLOWN POSSIBILITIES — “Future home of Circus Drive-In sign could get everyone 'pretty excited': Wall official,” by The Asbury Park Press’ David P. Willis: “Could a new home be coming soon for the old Circus Drive-In sign, a Route 35 landmark that was saved from the scrap heap after it was taken down to make way for a new shopping center? ‘I'm hoping in the near future, we're able to say this is what our game plan is,’ Wall Township Administrator Jeff Bertrand said. ‘We have an end location in mind. I'm not able to report it right now, but I think if that comes to fruition, everybody will be pretty excited about it.’” —“Hoboken council plans to change wording on explanation of rent control referendum, but may get a fight” —“[Montclair] school district delays banishing cell phones into locked pouches” —“Hunterdon Central taps one of its own to be new superintendent” —“Scotch Plains cop sues over rumor she was dating another officer” | | EVERYTHING ELSE | |
CIVIL RIGHTS HISTORY — “Mississippi’s Freedom Trail will now extend all the way to New Jersey,” by The New York Times’ Tracey Tully: “Euvester Simpson was barely 18 in August 1964 when she boarded a bus in Mississippi bound for the Democratic National Convention in New Jersey. She was seated next to Fannie Lou Hamer, a 46-year-old sharecropper from Ruleville, Miss., who was about to change history. The two Black civil rights activists had shared a jail cell the year before, but as the bus hurtled north toward Atlantic City, 60 years ago this week, they sang. “‘Walk with Me, Lord.’ That was her favorite,’ Ms. Simpson, 78, recalled. On Tuesday, as Democrats meet in Chicago to rally around Kamala Harris for president, lawmakers and civil rights veterans will gather in Atlantic City to mark the 60th anniversary of a Democratic convention held at the height of Freedom Summer. At the commemoration, the convention hall in Atlantic City will be designated as the first out-of-state stop on the Mississippi Freedom Trail.”
THE DOGTOR IS IN — “Can a patient bring a service animal into a doctor's office? DOJ weighs in on NJ case,” by The Record’s Scott Fallon: “One group — service animals — have almost always been allowed in any establishment to help their disabled owners thanks to federal law. But the U.S. Attorney's Office in Newark says a doctor with one of New Jersey's largest health care networks violated the Americans with Disability Act when she or her staff refused to allow a service animal into a medical office. Details of the case have not been made public. But the U.S. Attorney's Office announced late last week that it had reached an agreement with Hackensack Meridian Health to resolve the allegation involving an OB/GYN in Monmouth County who did not allow a patient with a disability to bring a service animal into the office for an appointment. … Under the agreement with the U.S. Attorney's Office, Hackensack Meridian will pay an unknown amount of money to the patient. It will also make ‘reasonable modifications to its policies, practices, and procedures’ to allow service animals by persons with disabilities access to all doctor's offices.” — “New Jersey is beating New York in housing production — By a lot” —“American Dream saw a boost in earnings in the second quarter. Here's how much” —“Rutgers group that led pro-Palestinian protest suspended until 2025” —“What is this bug-eyed fish showing up in Jersey Shore waters? Biologists have an answer”
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